Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Nakia Stephens, award-winning screenwriter and independent filmmaker has always been influenced by Black culture and southern flair, which, coupled with studying creative writing in places like Shanghai, Beijing, and Ghana, helped to cultivate her passion for human connection through storytelling.
Nakia has had over 25 of her screenplays, all amplifying marginalized groups but especially Black women and girls, produced to screen including her most notable projects: Suga Water, Cream x Coffee, Noise, and Novella.
Nakia has been featured and recognized for her work by festivals and platforms such as Forbes, Deadline, the NAACP Image Awards, BLAVITY, ABFF, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and Black Girls Rock! She also garnered partnerships and licensing deals with major media outlets such as Revolt TV, Black&Sexy TV, Fox Soul, and BET and AspireTV, just to name a few. Under her recent development deal, Nakia has penned and executive produced numerous short form projects with Earvin "Magic" Johnson's cable network, aspireTV.
About the episode:
- How she accidentally sold out her first film screening to 333 people
- The problem with capital on the journey as a creative and creator
- What it means to “practice success”
- How she set her intentions as a screenwriter in the beginning of her career
- When she graduated from being a Dreamer to a Doer
- Her plans for after she premiered her first short film and why
- What she feels like her ultimate job is and what her mantra is
- How she overcame “perfectionism”
- The challenges of transitioning from ATL to LA
- The biggest lesson she learned from creating and producing her first web series
- Why she refilmed and rebranded her first web series
- Why she wrote her award-winning film, “Suga Water” and how she felt at the time
- Behind the scenes of producing her award-winning web series “Cream and Coffee”
- The problem with capital on the journey as a creative and creator
- Her commitment to completing a short film a month, why she did it and the results
Instagram: @screenwriteher_
Website: damnwriteoriginals.com